VB.NET Run DOS Command

VB.NET  Execute DOS Command

How to execute command line using VB.NET?

Quick Snippet to Run a DOS Command executable file

Let's take an example using iexplore.exe and shutdown.exe command.

Iexplore.exe which is located on program files folder.

To verify the file open windows explorer and go to Program Files select Internet Explorer folder.

Or via command line press "Windows key +R" and type "cmd" on the text box  and press enter. It will open a command prompt window.

In command prompt window:

Type: cd \progra~1\Internet Explorer and press enter.

type: Iexplore.exe cnn.com (this will open a web page for cnn.com)

Using the shutdown command:
type: Shutdown /R /F /T 07 (reboot the computer and force open files to close within 7 seconds)

It's quite straight forward to use those commands via the command prompt but how to execute those command lines using VB.Net?

Maybe the first thought is to create a string with the command  and call the string with "process.start" but it will not work.


Like this example below:

Dim xStr As String

xStr = "c:\progra~1\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" & " " & "cnn.com"

The "xStr" string is same format as it is type via command prompt and it works perfectly on the command line.

To verify how the string looks like create a message box and view the string.


Using this piece of code it will display the "xStr" string: Msgbox xStr

Output will display; C:\PROGRA~1\Internet Explorer\iexplore cnn.com

Msgbox or Messagebox in VB.Net comes in handy to troubleshoot or verify the value of a string.

To execute the string using the process.start command:

Process.Start(xStr)

VB.Net will throw an error "Win32Exception was unhandled" "The system cannot find the file specified"

VB.NET  treats  the whole string as one executable command and throws an error.

  "C:\PROGRA~1\Internet Explorer\iexplore cnn.com"

To specify command prompt parameters, it must be separated by commas before passing the statement to "process.start".

So to open a web page on VB.NET using the process.start command:

Statement will be:

Process.Start("c:\progra~1\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe", "cnn.com")

Syntax is somewhat like Process.Start("Command Line", "Parameters of  Command Line")

For illustration on how to execute shutdown.exe command line using VB.Net follow example below.

Shutdown command line below will reboot or restart the computer.

Dim xStrParam as string

xStrParam = "/R" & " " & "/F" & " " & "/T" &  " 87"

Process.Start("Shutdown.exe",xStrParam)

The logic goes the same way to other DOS command program which can be executed on VB.NET environment.

Another way to execute or run command line in VB.Net is to run commands line VBScript.

Example code:

       Dim dhcpRR As String

        dhcpRR = ("ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew")
        Dim ShellRR = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
        ShellRR.run("cmd /K" + dhcpRR)

Code above will open a command prompt and execute ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew.


Hope that this noob snippet will help someone along the way. Cheers!!!

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